This paper reports two studies providing criteria and norms to interpret scores on the Spanish adaptation of the BDI-II. The first study was aimed at validating the original BDI-II cut-off scores to distinguish levels of depression severity and at finding the best cut-off scores for the Spanish adaptation. To get these aims, 215 Spanish patients with a variety of psychological disorders filled out the BDI-II and a clinician-rated scale was administered by their psychologists to assess the severity of patients’ depression. The results of these clinician ratings validated the depression levels defined by the original BDI-II cut-off scores; in addition, by means of ROC curves, it was found that cut-off scores for the Spanish adaptation were practically equal to those for the original BDI-II. The aim of the second study was to develop tables of percentiles with three Spanish samples: 712 patients with psychological disorders, 569 adults from the general population and 727 university students. The advantages of the combined use of the proposed criteria and norms are discussed since they provide complementary information.